


Out of Sync

by hipsterseverywhere



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Friendship, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Space Battles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 16:56:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5673562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hipsterseverywhere/pseuds/hipsterseverywhere
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe and Rey don’t get off to a great start. It only gets worse from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out of Sync

There hasn’t been much opportunity for Poe to get to know Rey. Not in the aftermath of Starkiller Base, in the wake of finally putting together the map to Luke Skywalker. There is too much to do, to plan, to accomplish. General Organa gave them what little time she could to celebrate their victory and to mourn the loss of their own. But there is a war to be fought, and war is an impatient beast.

(Poe aches for the General, aware of what a loss Han is. But the General has known loss since before Poe was born, and she also knows how to carry forward with it.) 

Between the reconnaissance runs, the tracking down of stray First Order contingents that had managed to flee Starkiller, and the preparations for moving to their backup base on Munto Cordu now that D’Qar is compromised, Poe only sees Rey in passing moments. 

Sometimes it’s at the mess hall, both of them grabbing food to go because there isn’t enough time to actually sit down and have a proper meal. They exchange perfunctory nods before running off in opposite directions.

Sometimes it’s in the war room, where Ackbar and Statura and the General usually exchange ideas about next steps, the rest of the Resistance listening along and providing input when prompted. 

“And Rey will take the Millenium Falcon to find my brother,” the General says during their latest meeting. By her tone, she will brook no argument about an unknown scavenger from Jakku being entrusted with such a critical mission.

Rey nods, resolute. She makes eye contact with Poe fleetingly, from across the holotable. It’s so brief it feels accidental—as it often does between them.

Then there’s the medbay. Poe goes in to see Finn, still unconscious but _alive_ , on those rare occasions where he can afford to do so. And as he approaches Finn’s room, he sometimes comes across Rey just leaving it. 

Other times, he’s the one leaving, having rambled at Finn about the day’s events, as if a treatment of his words alone could heal Finn’s back injury. And as Poe leaves, not out of choice but out of obligation to his duties, he will see her coming down the hall.

Regardless of how they come across each other, Poe never knows what to say.

Not when he doesn’t know what Finn and Rey are to each other. Friends? Lovers? Somewhere in-between? It’s a mystery that sits in the back of his head, festering like forgotten fruit. He hates it. And he hates that he hates it.

If Poe were a better, smarter man, he would thank Rey regardless of the conflict broiling in his gut. He would thank her for helping complete his mission and protecting Finn and bringing him home. Hell, he would thank her for being the very personification of new hope for the Galaxy, if the murmurs about her ways with the Force are to be believed.

But Poe has always been bad at compartmentalization.

It’s not as if Rey says anything either. But perhaps she doesn’t need to. She just looks at him, with those scavenger’s eyes that make Poe feel like she’s inspecting him. Assessing damage. Determining his value.

What does she see? 

On the day that Rey is supposed to leave on the Millenium Falcon, to find Luke Skwalker on some faraway planet, they have their longest interaction. Which is not saying much.

Naturally, it’s right as Poe walks in to see her leaning over Finn, pressing her lips to his forehead. 

All at once Poe feels like an intruder, stumbling upon an intimate moment that he’s not supposed to be privy to. 

He should come back later. For Rey’s privacy. For his own sanity.

But then Rey is turning to leave, catching Poe in the act.

Poe flushes, embarrassed.

She looks at him again, with those scavenger’s eyes. Or maybe they’re a Jedi’s, and instead of assessing the wear and tear on his surface they’re burrowing into his head, rooting out his secrets.

Poe wills himself to not think about Kylo Ren.

Finally, Rey speaks, strangely neutral. “I was just saying goodbye.”

Poe manages a nod, his knack for conversation nowhere to be found.

With nothing left to say, Rey makes a beeline for the door. She doesn’t look directly at him so Poe can’t be sure, but he swears that her eyes are wet.

The door shuts behind her, leaving Poe alone with a sleeping Finn. He finds himself staring at the point on Finn’s forehead that Rey kissed. It screams out to him, an invisible mark indicating Finn as Rey’s. Never to be touched by anyone else. 

Except it’s Poe who gave Finn a name. Gave him an identity outside of being a Stormtrooper.

And it’s Poe who gave Finn a jacket. A possession. Something to remember him by. Even if it now hangs in the back of Poe’s closet, burnt and scarred like its new owner.

Poe shakes his head, cutting himself off from this line of thinking.

Finn is not some bantha to be traded and owned. Finn is a man who makes his own choices, shapes his own fate. He is no one’s property, despite what the First Order says.

So maybe he should just let Finn be. Not get in the way of whatever is between him and Rey.

Maybe.

* * *

Finn wakes up three days after the Resistance has settled into their new base on Munto Codru. Munto Codru thankfully is a bit nicer than D’Qar, with its high mountains, lush valleys, and crisp, cool atmosphere.

Finn’s room in the medbay overlooks one of Munto Codru’s valleys. Lush with forestry, the valley follows the shape of a wide river and stretches out into the horizon. It’s a hell of a view.

Poe thinks that General Organa must’ve pulled some strings. Bless her heart. 

By sheer luck, Poe is sitting by Finn’s bedside as his eyes start to open. Poe can see the awareness slowly taking hold. It only takes a moment for him to recognize Poe.

Finn gives him a smile. A tired one, but a smile all the same. 

That’s when Poe feels it. Like jumping into hyperspace: spacial distortion, light bending, rushing Poe towards a destination that he desperately wishes to be at.

He wants Finn. So very much.

Suddenly, Finn’s pupils dilate. Poe can practically see Finn’s memories cascading back to him.

Finn, in a panic, tries to get up from the bed. He doesn’t get rise a full inch, the pain in his back clearly too raw still. Poe holds him down as gently as he can.

“Rey, what happened to Rey? Kylo Ren? Starkiller Base?” Finn manages through his pain.

Poe feels a powerful constriction in his chest. But he ignores it: this isn’t the time to think about the particulars of Finn’s love life.

“She’s okay. She’s not here, but she’s okay,” Poe says in a low murmur.

Finn nods, taking Poe’s word for it. The tension floats out of him. Then, catching the view through his window:

“We’re not on D’Qar, are we?”

Poe laughs. “Man, do I have a lot to catch you up on.”

Poe already told an unconscious Finn all of the excruciating details about what happened after Starkiller Base. More times than Poe can count. But he doesn’t mind repeating himself.

* * *

Poe wishes he could be there for more of Finn’s physical therapy. But there is too much to do and not enough manpower to match. Poe has to do his part and lead.  

Sometimes that means Poe is off world for days at a time. Recruiting. Running reconnaissance. Even negotiating for supplies. No skirmishes, luckily. Not yet.

Poe hates being away from Finn during these times seems. He longs for Finn’s easy, laidback company.

It’s silly, of course. The purview of a smitten teenager, not a grown military commander.

Not that Poe lets it impact his performance. He keeps his focus where it needs to be: on the mission and on his teammates. So if he rushes through his debriefings every time he returns to base, just to get back to Finn’s room faster…no one seems to complain.

Being able to witness only portions of Finn’s physical therapy, though, feels like scrolling through a photo album on a datapad. Pieced together. Incremental.

Day three, Poe walks in to see Finn sitting upright.

Day fourteen, Finn shows off to Poe his ability to walk five whole steps without assistance.

Day twenty, Finn walks a slow, even pace on a treadmill. Poe doesn’t hide his amazement.

Poe may only get to see bits and pieces of the process, but he can’t complain when he realizes how quickly Finn is recovering, even by today’s standards. The medic attributes some of it to the wonders of modern bacta formulas. The rest simply to Finn’s sheer willpower.

And with the way Finn always seems at ease whenever Poe comes to visit…

Poe fantasizes that maybe he helps Finn a little bit too.

* * *

On the day Finn is to be discharged, Poe waits for him outside the medbay doors with a surprise tucked behind his back. 

Finn walks out, wearing a standard-issue Resistance uniform. It’s a dreary set of clothing, but Finn’s beaming face seems to give it a little more color.

“Any longer in there and you would’ve had to bust me out,” Finn jokes, stretching out his arms to symbolically embrace his newfound freedom.

“Come to think of it, I do owe you a prison-break,” Poe says with a casual attitude that he does not actually feel.

Finn laughs. “Let’s hope I never have to call that favor in.”

“Let’s.”

Finn notices Poe’s hiding something. “Whatcha got there?”

Poe straightens his spine and dares to look Finn in the eye. He reveals his surprise: Poe’s—Finn’s—jacket, expertly patched up.

“Whoa,” Finn murmurs, voice low. He takes the jacket into his hands, caresses the fine repair work. “Did you do this?”

“Nah, my hands are no good for that kind of stuff. It was actually Snap if you can believe it.”

“Honestly, I can’t.” They both get a good chuckle out of that.

What Poe does not mention is the way Snap looked at him when he asked him to mend the jacket. He had the look of someone let in on an excellent joke.

“Is this your way of proposing to him?” Snap said with a wicked grin.

“Say a word to the others and no one will find your body in deep space, Wexley,” Poe shot back, his grin equally as dangerous.

Finn slips on the jacket, mindful of his tender back. He tugs at the material as if to make sure it still fits. It does.

“You’re the best, Poe,” he says as if it’s a simple law of the universe.

Right now, Poe thinks he could reach the sky without his X-Wing.

And in the back of his mind, he’s certain that Rey has never given Finn anything like this. 

* * *

No one has heard from Rey or Chewbacca or R2-D2 since they left to find Luke Skywalker. This doesn’t come as a surprise: given how desperately the First Order tried to track Luke down, the Resistance brass does not want to risk them intercepting a holo message. Not until Rey can make sure her call is untraceable. 

Two months after, Rey finally makes contact. Word spreads on the base, much to General Organa’s chagrin. But there’s a positive feeling in the air regardless/

The General and Rey speak privately first, in the General’s personal holo chamber.

Poe waits right outside with Finn, who can’t stop pacing. His manic footsteps echo through the hallway. He seems excited and nervous all at once.

Poe mostly succeeds at stifling his irritation.

“I’m sure you’ll get to talk to Rey as soon as they’re done,” Poe soothes. “She and the General probably have a lot to go over. Plus, the General and Luke haven’t seen each other for years.”

Finn comes to a halt, abashed.

“I know,” he says, “I’ve just really missed her.”

There’s that constricting of the chest again. Poe just nods.

Finn deflates, looking stricken all of a sudden.

“What’s up?” Poe asks.

“It’s stupid, but…Rey’s gonna be a Jedi. You’re the best pilot in the galaxy. Me? I’m just an ex-Stormtrooper. I can’t help thinking that one way or another, eventually you’ll both have to leave me behind.”

As Finn admits this, his body sags and he averts his gaze. He looks so fragile—flimsy in a way that contradicts his large stature, as if one good tap could break him.

Poe can’t stand it for a second. He steps closer, jaw clenched. Finn tenses as Poe draws near, but that doesn’t stop him. Poe only hopes that Finn does not mistake his intensity as fury or annoyance, but sees it as something purer:

Conviction. So much of it that it’s bursting out of Poe like he’s gone supernova.

“Don’t ever say you’re only an ex-Stormtooper. You’re infinitely more than that. Believe me.”

Poe lets the declaration hang there. For an absurd moment, Finn looks like he might argue. Like he doesn’t believe Poe.

But then Finn’s face morphs. The crease in his brow and the thin line of his mouth evaporate, transforming into a tiny smile. As if he’s stumbled over the solution to some sort of complicated problem but isn’t entirely sure if it’s actually right.

“Okay,” Finn exhales.

General Organa steps out of her chamber. She briefly considers them, curious.

“Finn, Rey would like to talk to you,” General Organa says in her rasped, authoritative tone. Then, a little softer: “She’s very excited to see you up and about.”

Finn looks to Poe, as if expecting permission.

Poe, momentarily insane, mulls saying “No.” Or “You don’t need her.” Or even “Let’s run away together.”

Instead, Poe jerks his head in the direction of the door. “Go on, hotshot,” he says.

Finn doesn’t need any more than that. He rushes in, the door closing behind him. 

It is only then that Poe realizes that General Leia is still watching him.

Her eyes remind Poe of Rey’s in a way they never have before. Assessing. Observing. Cutting through his pretense and artifice to find something deeper below. Perhaps Rey’s eyes really are more like a Jedi’s than a scavenger’s.

To Poe’s surprise, General Organa puts a warm hand on his arm. At the touch, Poe feels…lifted. At ease. Like he’s back in the cockpit, primed for action. He wonders: is this her way with the Force—like her son? But whereas Kylo Ren takes and destroys, Leia Organa only gives and nurtures?

“You’ll be all right, Poe,” she says with a twinkle in her eye. Poe might even believe her.

General Organa walks off, but Poe remains where he is, watching the closed door.

* * *

Poe finds a thrill in watching Finn develop as a tactician.

With his injuries still limiting access to more strenuous physical activity, Finn decides to hone his mind instead. He seems to devour every military text he can put onto his datapad.

Apparently, Finn showed considerable aptitude for tactics and strategy back in the First Order. He had the makings of an exemplary officer. But extenuating circumstances (and his eventual defection) put a hold on any kind of training that would help that aptitude to blossom.

There’s no stopping him now though.

General Organa recognizes his potential almost immediately. She makes Finn something of an apprentice, allowing him to shadow her in her day-to-day activities. She’s constantly imparting him with insight and knowledge accumulated over decades of warfare. Because of this, Finn becomes the envy of the Resistance.

It’d be easy for anyone to begrudge Finn: he’s only been in the Resistance for a short period of time and somehow he already has the ear of their leader. Luckily, not much friction occurs. Finn was integral to destroying Starkiller Base and saving them all—that gets him a pass in most people’s books.

And if Poe does his best impression of a raging wampa whenever anyone does have something nasty to say about Finn behind his back…

Well, Finn doesn’t need to know.

“You remind me of when I was first learning to fly my ma’s A-Wing,” Poe observes one day over lunch in the mess hall. They’ve taken it early, so none of their usual group (Jess Pava, Snap, and Nien Nunb being the most frequent) has arrived yet. Poe prefers this.

“Yeah?” Finn murmurs. He’s poking at his food, a little embarrassed.

“You bet. You’re a real natural.”

Finn looks up, and Poe winks at him. The way Finn flushes—pleased—tears down Poe’s bravado just as quickly as it came. Poe immediately wants to lean over, toss his sense of self-respect out of the airlock and tell him so many things.  How he’s so smart. So incredible. So beautiful.

BB-8, almost forgotten in the moment, chirps up at them from its place below their table.

“What’s it saying?” 

The nuances of Astromech binary do not always match those of Basic, but BB-8 said something akin to: “ _Stop trying to flirt and ask him out already, Master Poe._ ” 

“Ah, nothing important,” Poe shrugs.

BB-8 rolls onto Poe’s foot.

“Ow!”

Finn chuckles, more amused than curious, and returns to his food. After a few chews:

“It’s crazy. General Organa’s seen so many battles, knows so many different things. I don’t think General Hux and Captain Phasma’s brains combined could match what she’s got in one pinky.”

“She’s a living legend for a reason,” Poe beams. “The Force probably helps too.”

Finn mulls that over.

“I wonder if this is what Rey’s training with Luke Skywalker must be like. I can’t wait to talk to her about it.”

If Finn notices how Poe dims at the mention of Rey, he has the tact not to say so.

Poe regrets bringing up the Force.

* * *

 

He’d be the first one to admit it’s a selfish thought, but only if someone were to actually figure out that he’s even thinking it:

Poe hopes Rey doesn’t come back.

He doesn’t wish her harm, by any means. She’s too important to the cause, and has done too much for the Resistance already for Poe to have true ill will towards her.

He would simply prefer if Rey just kept training with Luke Skywalker somewhere else. Somewhere out in the far reaches of the galaxy. If she could singlehandedly save the galaxy from the First Order without ever setting a foot on Munto Codru, Poe would find that just dandy.

Naturally, not long after Poe first entertains this idea, Rey arrives on base. And she has Luke Skywalker in tow.

The Millenium Falcon touches down that day in the base’s hangar, which has been carved out of a mountainside. Much of the base comes to greet them, eager to see the only living Jedi Master in the galaxy make his triumphant return.

Poe, Finn, BB-8, C-3PO and General Organa lead the pack as they wait for the Falcon’s loading ramp to descend. Poe can feel Finn vibrating with excitement next to him.

The loading ramp touches down with a thud. It’s R2-D2 that comes down first. BB-8 rolls to it at top speed, beeping enthusiastically. C-3PO tails after him, and the three chatter away, R2 and BB-8’s binary beeps nearly drowning out C-3PO’s haughty Basic.

Chewbacca steps out next, and General Leia goes to hug him. The two of them still feel the loss of Han most, and they’re clearly relieved to see one another again.

Much to everyone’s amusement, Chewie than picks up Finn, enveloping him in a tight hug. Poe laughs, wishing he could record a holovid of this.

“Good to see you too, Chewie!” Finn croaks. “Watch the back! Watch the back!”

Poe’s too busy watching them to realize that the laughter is dying down, subsumed by murmurs and whispers. 

Poe cranes his head and at last he sees them.

Rey, her hair a little longer and her build a little more muscular, but very much the same otherwise. She doesn’t have her quarterstaff on her, but instead holds a metal contraption that Poe suspects is a double-bladed lightsaber.

Next to her is Luke Skywalker. Bearded and robed. Weary in a way that makes him seem as if he has existed since the dawn of the galaxy, an observer to all of its horrors over the eons.

Leia goes him faster than seems possible for someone her age. They embrace: brother and sister back together in a bittersweet reunion.

Poe knows that everyone is looking at them. Everyone except one.

Finn, free of Chewie’s grip, is running towards Rey. She meets him halfway, looking thrilled in a way Poe has never seen. They wrap themselves in each other’s arms, whispering things at one another that Poe cannot make out from here.

Poe feels like he just took an anti-air cannon blast to the chest.

* * *

Despite Poe’s reputation as the greatest pilot in the Resistance (probably the galaxy) and all that that implies, he doesn’t have a competitive streak.

The sensation of flying, unbound from gravity. Hitting a target dead center. His callused palms fitting into the worn grooves of his X-Wing’s control stick. Those are the kinds of thrills that fill Poe with the confidence to make an impossible maneuver, the fortitude to take on suicide missions and come back in one piece.

Poe has never needed to measure himself against others to know that he is good. He just _is_.

At least, that used to be the case. So why Poe decided to challenge Rey to a sparring match is beyond him.

Poe hits the mats with his back. Hard. It happened so fast that Poe forgot to exhale on impact to absorb the blow, and now he’s wheezing on the ground.

Rey looks down at him, having barely broken a sweat.

They’re in the base’s training center, on the sparring mats on the far side of the room. A few onlookers have gathered now, eager to see what a Jedi in training can do against one of the Resistance’s best and brightest.

Finn has been there the whole time, watching them with a serious expression.

Poe only now realizes, through the fog of pain and exhaustion, that he’s got sweat clinging to him in all the wrong places. How attractive.

By Poe’s internal count, he’s 0 for 9 now. He figured that, without her lightsaber (which did, in fact, turn out to be double-bladed. Because _of course_ ), he could at least hold his own. Use his physical strength to his advantage against Rey’s smaller stature.

So it’s just Poe’s luck that Luke has been teaching Rey hand-to-hand too.

Poe picks himself back up, the onlookers cheering him on. He raises his fists, spreads his legs out into a good fighting stance.

Rey laughs. Not mean-spiritedly, but it rankles Poe all the same.

“Haven’t you had enough, Poe?” Rey asks, her posture loose.

“I could go all day,” Poe huffs. He glances at Finn, who looks at Poe as if he were marching to his execution, not having a friendly(?) sparring match.

 “If you insist.”

Poe circles, bouncing on his heels. This is just like flying an X-Wing, he tells himself: stay loose, breathe deep, and don’t overthink it.

Rey matches his pace, eyes as sharp as ever.

Circling…

There! Poe sees it: Rey steps a little too wide. Open for a takedown.

Poe leaps in, grabbing Rey’s elbows, trying to disrupt her center of gravity. He bases his far leg out, starts to pull his other leg back for a calf-to-calf sweep.

But somehow Rey sees the move coming. She slips her arms out of Poe’s grip, ducks, and grabs the back of both his knees. She lifts the closer leg, the one that was supposed to sweep her, instantly putting Poe off balance. She shuffles forward, head to his hip, and just like that, Poe is on the ground again.

Some thoroughly impressed onlookers clap.

Poe lies where he is, seeing the wrong kind of stars.

“You okay Poe?” he hears someone say. By the timbre of the voice, he thinks it belongs to Finn. But he can’t muster up a response. Not when he’s still so dizzy.

A small hand juts out into the periphery of his vision. Rey’s. An offer to pull him back up.

Something about her hand causes Poe to snap back to reality. He stares at it. He knows that he should take it: she’s being a good sport, and he should accept it graciously.

But then Poe glances at Finn, who’s only looking at Rey. He’s grinning.

Fine, then.

“Kriff off” Poe hisses, smacking Rey’s hand away. He gets back up on his own. He chooses not to look at either her or Finn, but he’s still acutely aware that they’re both taken aback. “I’m gonna hit the showers,” Poe announces. He ignores all the eyes on him as he pushes his way through the crowd, which apparently has gotten bigger since he last hit the mats. The day just keeps getting better.

“Poe!” Finn shouts at his back.

 Poe doesn’t stop walking.

* * *

Ever since the sparring match, Finn hangs out with Poe, and hangs out with Rey, but rarely hangs out with them together. Fine by Poe.

Poe recognizes that Finn despises this unspoken arrangement. Poe’s guilt over that claws away at him only ever other day.

What Finn and Rey usually do together, Poe doesn’t deign to find out.

When Finn is with Poe, he most often keeps him company while he’s performing repairs on his X-Wing. Finn loves to talk, whether with Poe or at him, and Poe is always happy to oblige. It’s a heady combination of two of Poe’s favorite activities: taking care of his X-Wing and listening to Finn talk.

However, having Finn pester him about why he doesn’t like Rey is not high on Poe’s list of preferred topics.

“It’s not because she kicked your ass, is it?” Finn asks, trying to juggle three wrenches as BB-8 watches. “C’mon, she can kick everyone’s ass. Don’t let it get to you. She’s just special that way.” He accidentally drops one of the wrenches on BB-8’s head, and it lets loose a flurry of binary so scandalous that it would short-circuit C-3PO. Finn has the good sense to put the wrenches away.

 “I’m not that egotistical,” Poe says as he’s crouched down by his X-Wing, staring into the innards of his hyperspace drive. Finn snorts, prompting Poe to smack him on the leg with his free hand. “I don’t hate her.”

“But you don’t like her, either. Why?”

 “I have the utmost of respect for Rey. She’s a Jedi-to-be, and she’s gonna have a huge role in taking down the First Order.”

 “But you don’t like her.”

 Poe pushes his head inside his X-Wing even deeper.

* * *

Poe should have seen this coming. Finn’s been training under a former diplomat. _He should have seen this coming_.

There have been reports of the First Order putting boots on the ground in Acherin, perhaps trying to establish a new outpost in the Outer Rim Territories. If so, it would prompt a swift response from the Resistance. This has the makings of their first big, direct conflict with the First Order since the battle at Starkiller.

Finn had asked Poe to come by one of the smaller holo-conference rooms so that he and a few other pilots could brainstorm potential reconnaissance routes that they could then present to the Resistance brass.

When Poe walked in, he was not surprised to see the attendees. Finn, himself, Jess Pava, and Snap Wexley. BB-8 was zipping back and forth between them all, simply happy to be there.

Poe barely put his butt in a chair when Rey hurried in.

“Sorry I’m late, Master Luke keeps saying that I need to…” Rey cuts off when she spies Poe. She glowers at him, perhaps expecting Poe to wither under her Jedi scrutiny.

Months ago, Poe might’ve. But now he’s going to give as good as he gets.

“Rey,” Poe grunts.

“Poe.”

BB-8 nearly rolls into Rey’s shins. It greets her with far more cordialness than Poe. Traitorous droid.

Kaydel Ko pops her head in then, her intricate blonde hair a strange jolt into the room’s drab surroundings.

“Snap, Jess, Admiral Statura needs to go over your report on that last recon to Tatooine,” Kaydel announces, all business. “He wants you in the war room right away.”

“Duty calls, Jess,” Snap grandstands, looking just a little too put-upon.

“Another hectic day in the Resistance,” Jess affirms. And they’re both gone.

“Guess that just leaves us then,” Finn says, leading Rey into a seat. Poe doesn’t miss the way Finn’s hand lingers on her shoulder. “Might be nice to have a chat, just the three of us.”

BB-8 indignantly pokes Finn with its claw apparatus. “Four of us,” Finn amends.

“I’m not the chatty type,” Poe says. It’s likely the most absurd lie he’s ever uttered. Finn seems to be thinking along the same lines.

“Poe, there’s no reason you two can’t be friends,” Finn pleads, dropping the pretense. “You’re both important to me.”

“Buddy, there’s no law that says I have to be friends with all of your friends. You have your people, I have mine.” Poe listens to himself. He internally cringes: he _knows_ he’s being childish. But he can’t stop. Or won’t. He’s not sure which.

Rey arches an eyebrow. She says, cold as ice: “That’s quite all right. I have no interest in being friends with someone who has such a fragile ego.”

Finn hisses, “Rey!”

Too late. _It’s on._

“Huh. You’d think training with a Jedi Master would make you a bit more pleasant,” Poe mutters towards the ceiling.

“Even if you were more Force sensitive than the rest of the galaxy combined, I doubt Master Skywalker would take a second glance at you,” Rey volleys back.

“I’ve got sand in my eyeballs just from looking at you!”

“You’re one to talk. There’s more engine grease in your hair than in all of the Millenium Falcon!”

“Well I’m surprised you haven’t torn it up for parts to sell already!”

“Ugh, I’d rather get eaten by a rathtar than keep talking to you.”

“Who’s stopping ya?!”

“ENOUGH!” Finn bellows at the top of his lungs. Poe, Rey and BB-8 all whip their heads towards him.

Finn takes a moment to catch his breath before continuing. “What is with you two? We’re on. The same. Side.”

Rey pipes up before Poe can: “He’s the one with the problem.”

“Ah, forget this,” Poe says. “I’ve got a lot of work to do. C’mon BB-Ate.”

Poe rises and heads for the door. He stops when he doesn’t hear the whirr of BB-8’s motors like he expects. He turns back to his droid companion:

BB-8 is rooted to the floor in the middle of the room. It’s head swivels back and forth between Rey and Poe, as if conflicted about where to go.

“BB-Ate, let’s go already!” Poe thinks he will physically implode if BB-8 chooses Rey over him too. To Poe’s relief, BB-8 eventually rolls towards him.

As he exits, Poe doesn’t miss the disappointment in Finn’s eyes.

* * *

 

The First Order has, in fact, established a base on Acherin. The Resistance has no choice but to launch a pre-emptive strike: they can’t risk the First Order getting a foothold in the Outer Rim territories.

During the briefing, Finn mentions that they might be able to access the First Order’s communications array. This could potentially lead to clues on Kylo Ren and Supreme Leader Snoke’s whereabouts.

When prompted on how they might gain access to the array, Finn suggests a three-pronged attack. One is an assault from the sky where the X-Wing squadrons engages the TIE Fighters. Another is a ground battle between a battalion led by Luke Skywalker and the majority of the First Order’s on-base manpower. The last is an infiltration by a small team that uses the chaos of the battle to enter the base and access the communications array.

“It’s a great plan,” General Organa declares with unmasked pride.

Poe would agree, except he’s not a fan of the part where Finn himself does the infiltrating.

Upon dismissal, Poe pulls Finn aside into an empty corridor.

“Last time you went to infiltrate a First Order base, you almost died,” Poe whispers.

“This isn’t Starkiller,” Finn argues, confident in an unfamiliar way. Poe can’t decide if he finds this attractive or terrifying. “Kylo’s not going to be there.” Finn puffs up his chest. “Even if he were, I think Round Two wouldn’t go so well for him.”

It’s a bad joke. They both know it.

“Let me come with you. My aim’s good for more than just X-Wing blasters.”

“You need to be with your squads, and you know it.”

He’s right, but that doesn’t stop Poe from feeling that awful chest constriction again.

“Rey’s going with you, huh?”

Finn looks at him—a hard, assessing look—and Poe wonders if he picked that up from Rey.

“I know you guys have issues, but if you can’t trust her…”

“I do. I do trust her.”

What catches Poe off guard is how much he means it. It’s as if Poe has stepped out of his body and can see everything from new angles.

Poe does trust Rey. Wholeheartedly.

He may resent what she has that he doesn’t, but that makes her all the more equipped to join Finn on this mission. She cares for Finn. She’ll protect him with everything she has, without question.

That’s all that matters.

“Just promise me that you’ll be careful, okay buddy?” Poe says. It comes out hoarse and quiet and tinged with too much of everything that’s inside of him.

Finn hugs him, so tight it almost hurts. In Finn’s arms, in the embrace of the jacket that was once his, Poe feels something powerful: a primal energy that courses through every cell in his body. That fills him with strength and dread in equal measures.

Perhaps this is what the Force truly feels like, Poe conjectures.

“I promise,” Finn says into Poe’s shoulder. “But you gotta promise me too.”

Poe hugs Finn back, hoping he can return some of this energy. “I promise.”

* * *

 

The base hangar is controlled chaos. The familiar, manic rush right before a big mission.

 Poe cuts through the throngs of personnel scurrying to their stations. He heads directly towards the Millenium Falcon. He catches Rey helping Chewie load some supplies.

“Rey!” Poe says when he’s within earshot.

Rey turns to him; clearly surprised that he’s come looking for her. Chewie, not one for the particulars of human drama, carries more boxes into the Falcon.

Poe has to say it, even if it kills him. It might, one day.

“Take care of Finn, okay?”

Another surprise for Rey. But she’s caught off guard only momentarily before she nods. She shimmers with a quiet intensity that all at once convinces Poe that she will one day be a Jedi Master. 

Having said what he wanted to say, Poe starts to head for where the X-Wings are docked. He has his own preparations to make.

“Poe!” Rey calls out.

Poe looks back, now his turn to be surprised.

“Good luck, and may the Force be with you.”

“May the Force be with you,” Poe repeats. 

* * *

The First Order’s outpost on Acherin is an ugly thing: a squat, deathly grey compound nestled in a rocky canyon native to the planet.

It’s just asking to be blown up.

High in the sky, above the canyon, bolts of red and green whizz in all directions. A dozen X-Wings and as many TIE Fighters weave through the blaster fire, locked in a high-altitude dance of metal and plasma.

Poe, seated in his distinctive black X-Wing, notices two TIE Fighters closing in on Nien Nunb’s bird ahead of him.

Poe goes full-throttle, curving in and out of stray fire. But he can already tell that he can’t take out both TIE Fighters directly from here. Not quickly enough to stop one of them from lighting Nien Nunb up.

Instead, Poe aims for the left TIE’s left stabilizer wing. Lines it up on the targeting system. Keeps his thumb on the blaster trigger.

 _Click_.

Poe blasts the TIE fighter’s stabilizer, half of it incinerating upon impact. The damage knocks the TIE off-course. It careens right into the other TIE Fighter, and both explode in a cloud of smoke and fire.

“Wahoo!” Poe yells. BB-8’s chirping in the back indicates that it agrees with that sentiment.

Nien Nunb talks in Sullustan through Poe’s comms. He’s deeply grateful.

“I always take care of my own, pal,” Poe retorts. “Let’s clean up." 

To an outside observer just coming in, this might look like an even battle. But Poe knows that, for once, everything is in the Resistance’s favor.

The battle actually started out with twice as many TIEs as there are now. Many of their smoldering remains litter the ground below them. The Resistance, by comparison, has only lost one of its own so far.

TIE Fighter pilots have always been too compartmentalized, too used to strict regiments and protocols. They have (or had, in this case) the numbers, but they don’t have the instinct and the chemistry of the Resistance Starfighter Corps.

Poe knows he shouldn’t get ahead of himself, but he can’t stop the feeling blooming in his gut: triumph.

Lead Dispatcher Pamich Nerro’s voice cuts in: “We’ve confirmed that Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca have acquired the intel. They’re on their way out and back to the Falcon.”

Poe grins. Soon it’ll be all over. The Outer Rim will be able to breathe easier.

And Finn will be safe.

Nerro continues: “Master Skywalker has the ground troops on the defensive, but some of them broke off a minute ago,” she says, the dread in her voice clear. “They’re likely headed after the infiltration team.”

Poe’s stomach nearly falls through his cockpit. “Can’t Master Skywalker go after them?”

“Skywalker can’t leave his team yet without risking the troopers regaining lost ground!” Nerro intones. “He’ll go to them when he can, but Rey and the others will have to manage on their own for now."

Poe can’t see the Millennium Falcon directly: in order to avoid being bombed from above, the Resistance dressed it in camouflage matching the terrain. So Poe has no choice but to strafe the general area where he at least knows they landed. He keeps one eye out for the figures of Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca, and the other on the sky. He’s worried about Finn, but he can’t let his guard down either when there are still TIE Fighters screeching about 

“C’mon, Finn…” Poe mutters to himself.

BB-8 whistles. It’s worried too.

After a few agonizing moments, he sees them, marked by the bright green glow of Rey’s double-bladed lightsaber. They’re running as fast as they can, Rey covering the rear.

A wall of red lasers descends upon them: Stormtroopers, a baker’s dozen of them, shoot at the trio from perches on the upper levels of the compound.

Rey twirls her lightsaber with astonishing speed and dexterity, deflecting bolts away from her and Finn and Chewie. A few ricochet back into unlucky Stormtroopers, killing them instantly. Meanwhile, Finn and Chewie sneak in potshots of their own as they run towards a rock formation that Poe realizes must be the Millenium Falcon in disguise.

However, the few Stormtroopers killed in the crossfire are quickly replaced by even more. A lot more. They spill out onto the ground level, laying down heavy fire.

Finn and Chewie take cover behind a boulder. Rey shuffles back towards them, spinning her lightsaber as fast as she can. Even from the sky, Poe can see how incredible she is. Swift, agile, focused. 

But even she can’t deflect this much blaster fire.

Only a few feet away from Finn’s cover, a laser bolt grazes Rey’s shoulder. She stumbles, nearly dropping her lightsaber.

Without hesitation Finn leaps out from cover, lying down as much suppressive fire as he can. A man possessed, he shoots with wild abandon, drawing as much attention as he can.

If Poe could, he would pop open his cockpit right there and scream at Finn to get back to cover. He’s so distracted that a TIE Fighter diving at him from starboard side nearly blasts off his fighter’s S-Foils. 

As luck would have it, Jess comes in from below and blasts the TIE Fighter to oblivion. Poe knows he could have recovered and handled it himself, but this at least spares him the trouble of a complicated evasive maneuver.

“You okay Black Leader?” Jess’s voice comes through the comms, a bit staticky. “Don’t start getting senile on me!”

“I had it, but thanks for the assist anyway Blue Three,” Poe shouts. The immediate danger past, he chances another look at the Millenium Falcon’s location, fearing the worst.

Thank the Maker: Finn and Rey have both managed to get back to cover. But they’re pinned down now: with Rey not at full performance it’s doubtful they can make it back to the Millenium Falcon without at least one casualty.

Poe refuses to let that happen.

He assesses the situation in the sky. The remaining TIE Fighters, perhaps finally understanding the futility of the battle, have started to turn around. No doubt they mean to escape and rendezvous with the rest of the First Order.

Good. That gives Poe an opening.

“Blue Squadron, keep on those TIE Fighters,” Poe barks out. “We can’t let them break atmo to make the jump to hyperspace. Red Squadron, stay close and be ready to drop the payload. I’m going down there to give Finn and the others some cover.”

“Roger, Black Leader,” Snap says over comms. The Blue Squadron’s X-Wings immediately give chase to the fleeing TIE Fighters.

“Black Leader,” says General Organa. Poe nearly jumps in his seat: she never speaks over comms. “Are you certain this is the right course of action? Luke might be able to reach them faster.”

The Stormtroopers pinning Finn and the others down have started to push in. They don’t have much time.

“I can do it.”

“That’s all I needed to hear. I’ll have Luke disengage and focus on evacuating his ground forces.”

Poe doesn’t waste another second. He dives towards the canyon as fast as he can manage. Dipping below the canyon’s ridges, he lines up his shot.

The Stormtroopers have gotten close. Close enough that for most pilots it’d be too dangerous to shoot at them without risking Finn, Rey, and Chewie as collateral damage.

But Poe is not like most pilots.

Poe takes the shot. His blaster fire hits the center of the Stormtrooper’s formation, scattering them like ragdolls. A direct hit.

Poe rises back into the sky. He can’t see what happens next from his angle.

“BB-Ate, did they get to the Falcon okay?”

BB-8, able to see their friends from here, answers in the affirmative.

Hollering with joy, Poe finally turns his X-Wing around. He sees the Millenium Falcon’s engine glowing to life. A few surviving Stormtroopers shoot at the ship’s hull, but they’re entirely ineffectual.

The Falcon lifts off, clearing the canyon easily.

“Falcon is clear!” Poe declares.

“Copy!” Nerro replies. “Skywalker’s team has cleared as well.”

“Okay boys and girls, that’s our cue. Red Squadron, light ‘em up!”

Red Squadron flies over the canyon in a tight V formation. As the X-Wings pass over the First Order outpost, they each release several bombs from their underside compartments.

Most of the bombs land as intended and erupt into a fiery explosion that tears the outpost to pieces. The few bombs that hit the canyon walls cause a massive rock avalanche instead, burying the outpost in a shower of stone and dirt.

It’s over.

“We did it Poe!” Finn cheers over the comms. Poe lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Yeah, buddy. We freakin’ did it.”

* * *

Rey ends up in the medbay as soon as they back to base. Mostly as a precaution to make sure the blaster shot that grazed her right shoulder hasn’t committed any untold damage. At least that’s how General Organa described it.

After the debrief and leaving BB-8 with the engineers for an inspection, Poe heads for Rey’s room.

It doesn’t shock Poe by this point to see that Finn is already there, sitting at Rey’s bedside and talking to her quietly. She’s upright, alert, and healthy-looking.

In spite of everything, Poe is relieved to see that Rey’s okay.

Before Poe can make his presence in the room known, Rey senses him. She is a Jedi, after all.

When Finn catches on, he instantly leaps out of his chair and into Poe’s arms. They didn’t have a chance to see each other in the whirlwind of their return.

Poe at least has the presence of mind not to actually spin Finn around in his arms like out of a bad holovid.

“You’re okay,” Finn whispers, letting go far too soon.

“So are you,” Poe huffs. “And you didn’t mess up the jacket this time.” Finn punches Poe in the arm good-naturedly. Then his face scrunches.

No doubt, Finn is remembering the last time Poe and Rey occupied the same space at the same time. Precedent has clearly made Finn skittish. His eyes dart back and forth between the two.

Poe hands out the first tentative olive branch. “How’s the shoulder?”

Rey does a light stretch to demonstrate. “Pretty good. I doubt Master Skywalker will wait half a day before putting me back on a brutal training regimen.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage,” Poe ventures, smirking. Rey nods, returning the smirk.

Finn doesn’t seem to know what to make of this change. Poe turns to Finn.

“Finn, do you mind if Rey and I talk?”

Finn gapes at him for a second before regaining his composure. “Sure,” Finn squeaks. “I’m, uh, gonna do something…somewhere else. So…bye.”

Finn exits, fumbling about as if the nerves in his limbs were rewired.

Poe and Rey are alone for the first time since…perhaps ever.

The silence stretches out between them.

“Thank you,” Rey says first. “For helping us out on Acherin.”

By the way the words “thank you” drops from her mouth, Poe can tell she’s not used to saying that. He turns that piece of information over in his head.

“I should be thanking you too,” Poe says. “You saved Finn’s life.”

“I’d hardly call what I did back there saving his…” Rey begins, waving the idea off.

“No, I mean before,” Poe cuts in. “Starkiller. Kylo Ren. Heck, you saved BB-Ate back on Jakku and I never thanked you for that either.”

“Oh.”

Poe ruffles his hair; a nervous tic. He decides to settle into the chair besides Rey’s bed.

“I should have thanked you the second you guys landed,” Poe continues, swallowing his pride. “I wanted to. But I choked. So we started off on the wrong foot. I only let it get worse until next thing I know I’m being a complete bantha’s ass to you. So I’m sorry. For everything. 

Rey shakes her head. “It’s not just on you. I should’ve said something back then too. I didn’t have all the details at the time, but I knew you mean a lot to Finn. I could have made more of an effort to reach out.”

Mean a lot, how? Poe stamps out the urge to ask for clarification.

Rey continues. “On Jakku, you’re always on your own. You carve out your own tiny place in the world and you try to survive. Every life-form for themselves, they said.” Rey pauses here, thinking. “So when I saw Finn unconscious, I realized how much we cared for each other, how people cared _about_ us just because they could… It was too much for me, then. So I’m sorry as well.”

Poe actually gets it. He understands, for the first time, how hard of a life Rey has had. That she’s never been part of something bigger, something that transcends herself, until that fateful day she found BB-8.

Poe aches with sympathy.

“Mind if we start over?” Poe asks, a bit blaster-shy. “It’d be nice if we could be real friends this time around.”

Rey slowly breaks out into a smile. Radiant and alive. “I’d like that.”

Poe smiles back. But then it fades as he considers what he has to say next.

He thinks about the return to D’Qar after Starkiller. About the moment he saw Finn being carried off the Millenium Falcon. About how the sight of Finn’s closed eyes and pale skin caused Poe’s center of gravity to shift.

He figures out what he has to do: for all of their sakes.

“There’s more to why I was acting the way I was,” Poe says, a bit abruptly. “Not long after we got back to D’Qar, I realized how head over heels I am for Finn. It blindsided me. Put me in a tailspin that I didn’t know how to get out of.”

Rey’s eyebrows jump a few inches. Visual confirmation that she never knew, probably never even suspected.

Maybe because she never even considered him a threat.

Poe has to keep going. He has to clear the air.

“The real reason I was so harsh on you is that I was jealous. But I know that’s not an excuse. So all I can say is sorry…again.”

Rey still hasn’t said anything.

“And I want you to know that I won’t get in the way of what you and Finn have. I’ll keep my feelings out of it from now on.”

As he finishes, Poe thinks his nerves have been splayed open. The air itself seems to cut his insides raw.

Rey, on the other hand, looks blank. She’s at a complete loss.

“You think Finn and I are _involved_?” Rey finally asks, incredulous.

Poe blinks, the math suddenly not adding up.

“C’mon, I can see it from ten parsecs away.”

Rey chuckles. Poe can’t fathom how she finds this _amusing_.

“Oh, Poe. Now I owe you another apology,” she says as she puts a hand over Poe’s. “I love Finn to the far end of the galaxy and back. But he’s family to me. I’m no expert on these things, but I know that what we have, it isn’t romantic.”

Poe’s mind has been wiped clean. He is a blank slate, having to relearn the world.

“So…”

“So there’s nothing between us,” Rey finishes.

A wave of jubilation threatens to wash over Poe. But he doesn’t let it, not until he knows for certain. Until he clears one last hurdle between him and Finn.

“Rey, does Finn have feelings for me?” Poe asks, breathless.

Rey draws a blank again, and the wave evaporates in an instant.

“I don’t know. Not because he wouldn’t tell me. Truthfully, I doubt he’d recognize that feeling on his own. He’s about as new to this whole caring for other people business as I am.”

Poe leans back, dejected. But Rey grips his hand tighter.

“What I do know is that he wears your jacket every day like he’d die without it. And he talks about you as if you had emerged in a ray of light from the center of the galaxy. Which may or may not have had something to do with how much I enjoyed knocking you to the ground.”

A new feeling laps against Poe. Not a crushing wave, but a gentle tide. He’s not sure what it is.

“If Finn could be in love with anyone, I think it would be you.”

Poe identifies the new feeling.

It’s hope.

* * *

Poe finds Finn sitting cross-legged on a field of grass outside the base. He’s furrowing his brow at the datapad in his lap.

The sun has begun to set, casting the valley below in a deep orange. Poe couldn’t time this better if he tried.

“Hey,” Poe calls out.

“Hey,” Finn repeats with a shy little smile.

Poe thinks of Rey’s words, less than an hour before. _If Finn could be in love with anyone, I think it would be you._

Finn pats the grass next to him. Poe obeys and sits down. Their thighs touch, warming Poe to the bone.

“I’ll never get tired of watching you fly,” Finn says, so easily, as he stares out into the glowing valley below them. “Especially when it involves you getting me out of trouble. Again”

“I’m happy to put on an airshow whenever you want,” Poe responds. He claps Finn on the shoulder. “But I’ve had enough of us bailing each other out of life-and-death situations for a little while. Next time there’s a battle let’s call in sick.”

Finn throws his head back with laughter. Poe laughs along with him, and for a little while the world shrinks to just the two of them, in this moment.

When their laughter dies down, Finn glances at Poe. He looks tense, and Poe already knows what he’s going to say.

“Okay, I can’t take the suspense. How was your talk with Rey?”

Poe gives him what he thinks is his best open-mouthed smile. “Good. We came to an understanding. She might win me over yet.”

All the tension drains out of Finn at once. Joy practically bursts out of every pore in his skin as he grabs Poe’s forearm. “You have no idea how happy that makes me. Thank you, Poe.”

“I’m in love with you.”

Poe catches up with his mouth. He’s not sure if he actually just said that out loud.

By the flabbergasted expression on Finn’s face, he decides that he did.

Instead of being terrified or regretful about this sudden admission, Poe is just relieved. He’s had his fists closed around this secret for too long, too tight. No matter how this plays out next, Poe just wants everything to be out in the open.

Finn doesn’t draw closer or pull away, so Poe has no choice but to watch Finn’s expression. He sees it transform: from shell-shocked surprise to careful consideration and finally to something warm and iridescent.

Poe bites his lip, the anticipation nearly crushing him.

At last, Finn speaks.

“All this time, I never understood the difference between how I thought about Rey and how I thought about you. Now I do.”

And the way Finn leans in, smiling at Poe with such unbridled excitement, becomes the focal point of Poe’s entire universe.

Poe meets him halfway.

* * *

A week or so later, during a hot evening, Jess Pava invites a large crew to the mess hall to crack open some bottles of Corellian whisky she acquired through dubious means.

By the time Poe and Finn arrive, hand-in-hand, everyone else is abuzz with alcohol and laughter. The couple flushes at the few whistles that come their way.

Rey is seated at the far end of one of the tables, nursing a glass of the golden liquid. She beckons Poe and Finn over to her.

As Poe and Finn take a seat, Rey slides them both a glass of whisky. The three of them _clink_ their glasses together.

When a lewd comment from Snap distracts Finn, Poe takes the opportunity to look at Rey, and she looks back. There’s no assessing, no guardedness, anymore. Poe realizes that they’re simply happy to be here, with Finn beside them. 

Poe decides that he likes Rey a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write a short little diddy about Poe's insecurity over Finn and Rey's relationship. It turned into this monstrosity. 
> 
> Since Poe and Rey never actually interact in the film, it became a very interesting exercise to see how they might butt heads and how their friendship would grow.
> 
> Thanks to Wookiepedia for any and all universe-related search.


End file.
